Does anyone know where to find a history of the church that has burnt down?

[allwaystired]

I was wondering about the history of the church, and though maybe someone here might be able to help me? is their any sections of a website dedicated to it? does anyone know anything?

 

many thanks!

[Plain Talker]

Do you mean the one at the junction of South View Road, and Vincent road?

 

Some of the history of the building has been given on the thread about the fire, by local history enthusiasts, like myself and Muddycoffee, and others.

[Incubus]

PT are you Muddy buddies then? you seem a most unlikely couple?

[Plain Talker]

just "friends" through the forum, really.

 

Muddycoffee has excellent sites full of brilliant pics and information, and he is , like me interested in local history, & buildings.

[Greybeard]

The church was built for the Primitive Methodists. Foundation stones were laid by Sir F.T. Mappin and R.E. Leader in August 1891 and the building was completed in February 1893 at a cost of £5,100.

 

With an original membership of 70 it had expanded to 270 members by 1909. I don't know when it closed but I can remember people using this church in the late 40s - early 50s.

 

There's a little more detail, but not much, in Mary Walton's, History of the Parish of St. Barnabas, Highfield, Sheffield

[Plain Talker]

good information, Greybeard. Thank you.

 

I knew it was built about the same time as the housing in the streets surrounding it, which date from between 1860s to the 1900s. I had put it, at a "guesstimate", as being 1880s approx, so I was not too far out.

 

As Muddycoffee has said, in the 1970's it was the Christian Science Church and reading room, the "Second Church Of Christ, Scientist". his research shows it loged in1969 as such.

 

It closed and was disused for some time then about 18/20 yrs ago, the Sufi Muslim congregation leased it, as the "Naqshbandi House" Sufi Centre, with quite a flourishing congregation. the owner withdrew the lease about 18 months ago, and it stood empty, awaiting development until very recently. the scaffolding has been up over a year.

 

then the fire happened the other day

[Alastair]

Were the sufis of the white old hippy variety?

 

I took a look at the burnt out church today and the shell is intact. I wonder if it can be saved? I certainly hope so.

[Plain Talker]

Were the sufis of the white old hippy variety?

Not necessarily.

 

Having lived in the area for some time, I know a number of the people who were part of the congregation.

 

There were all sorts of ethnic backgrounds represented, mostly Pakistani, but there were some English converts, and some Afro-Carribean people, some people from Egypt...

 

I took a look at the burnt out church today and the shell is intact. I wonder if it can be saved? I certainly hope so.

 

So do I. It's a bit of a mess, after the fire, isn't it?

 

I really liked the "Quirky" tower at the front of the building. I really hope the building can be brought back to "something like".

[Alastair]

It was the tower that made the building, otherwise it was just another early 20thC redbrick church.

 

Sufi is at the less respectable end of Islam and a bit frowned upon by the more puritanical types isn't it. I had a bit of an "experience" once in a hotel rom in Rawalpindi watching a Sufi band playing for what seemed like hours on Pakistani TV. The music was mesmerising, helped along in large measure by the potent Pakistani hashish I was smoking.

[allwaystired]

thanks for your help everyone! very much appreciated!